Locked Gates In Nightfall

Well I honestly hope it turns out the way you guys want it.

I play mine though with the SL so it's not going to bother me a lick.

Good luck guys.

being called at times the number 1 fanboi i highlited the one thing i got from factions.

to my own personal likes of gameplay it was a waste.

i still have hopes for Nightfall with no *the game stops here for you* gates and have the prerelease/CE for it

The comparison between Mario and Metal Gear is totally out of line and off topic. This is a Comparison between a game and its Sequel...

Once you get out of the city, I actually like Factions. Of course, the city is like over half the game...

I like the Greens after you complete the game. That's actually the only reason my Warrior is going through... I want that Aegis Shield! (I already got the Dragoncrest Axe with my Necro).

I'm now slowly gaining Kurzick faction by doing quests, and since I've never been to the area before, I'm having a great time.

That said, I would have enjoyed Factions much more with no gates, and although I'm not going to make any dire threats of "never" buying a GW game again with gates, if Nightfall isn't 100% better than Factions, it'll definiately be a wake-up call. From what I've been reading, though, it doesn't sound like a problem.

Locked gates - force you take a particular path and force you to do missions over and over.

No locked gates - gives you the freedom to play in any order you choose and skip the stuff you're fed up with/don't like. Nobody forces you to explore or skip bits either, you just have the options. You can still do the story in sequence and rigidly stick to one path if you choose to do so.


Seems to me the defenders of locked gates just want to force people to play their way. The "it prevents noobs" later on argument has been debunked, witness by Factions. Inexperienced players still make it, being carried by groups. The "it ruins the game" has also been debunked, seeing as how Factions isn't really that popular overall compared to how Prophecies was anyway. I fail to see how if someone chooses to skip doing Vizunah Square for the 6th time, how that ruins it for me personally. Hell I'd probably follow them and skip it too, it's just that annoying. So that leaves the "play it my way or the high way" reasoning.

No locked gates gives you choices. Locked gates take away those choices. It really isn't hard to understand.

Besides, hopefully Nightfall will be big enough and have enough content that it doesn't need crutches disguised as gates to make it last longer...

the question is to have an option...and i like having that option in prophecies

Dude please tell me where you get your numbers from IT'S A MYTH that factions has not sold well.

So please post some numbers to back your claim, the last time someone did he totally misread it and only noticed that NCSoft (the publisher) lost money, but that wasn't because of sales - sales were up by a big margin.

You WAN'T Factions to be a failure, but it's not - get over it.

Factions sold well but people class it as a failure as a matter of opinion not fact.

Number of sales is irrelevent if a large chunk of those buyers end up not playing it, or just going back to Tyria. Witness the more commonplace district hopping that goes on in Factions as people try to grab.. well, anyone!.. for a party. That hardly ever happened during the height of Prophecies' popularity.

For various reasons, and I think the artificially restrictive gates are a part of that problem, it's just apparently not popular as Prophecies was. If you get forced to replay several missions you don't particularly like, eventually you'll not bother attempting to do so (and consequently not get anywhere further with that char either) e.g. my mesmer is 12 months old and still stuck at Kaineng simply because I can't stomach going through every quest and mission needed all over again for the 5th+ time.

Which would you prefer to be in? A group of 8 where most are doing the mission because they want to as opposed to being in a group where 7 of them feel like they have to do the mission? I know which I'd prefer...

Yup. Ive seen people asking about Guild Wars on tons of other forums and people always say buy Prophecies and not Factions.

Back in Beta exploring was one of the g-d-est fun things to do. It is still true in prophecies today for me. I like being able to go into an area that is explorable with a group of humans and finding where some stuff is that we haven't seen. (Even more fun if you are some of the first people to do it).

It makes the world seem more real, more expansive and less constricting (now if only I could JUMP down that path about a foot instead of walking for 10 miles...:P)

Pro-gate arguements

I get lost, can't find my way to the next mission, or skip missions.

This being a multiplayer game, ask someone for directions or Anet could add a mechanic that would help direct you to the correct quest that leads you to the correct mission something of that sort. There is no reason to limit others just because you want to play the game straight through if other methods are availble to appease you.

Runners

Running is something that Prophecies was actually made with that in mind. The reason being: Gasp it could cut down on hours of play time for those who weren't interesting in grinding through the mission. Outside of previously mentioned Arena instances it does not harm others gameplay so why should it bother you? Johnny The Third is level 5 with 15k armor with gold he earned to get ran to buy armor he earned the gold for, so he didn't have to go through all the missions he did on Johnny the First and Johnny the Lactose Intolerant. Prophecies areas seem very active at just about any time a day, I would know my sleep pattern is so irregular that I have been on at all times of day and been to many areas at those times. If it really is that much of a problem you could easily limit it by having an NPC you had to talk to proceed. Then you might have Running teams which a whole team (minus one customer) would battle through an area and bring him there, though this wouldn't really be all that faster than just going through the areas.

Powerleveling

Again to me it is about choice, you wanna play your character from 1-20 in linear story fashion, fine you should have YOUR choice to play it YOUR way. There are many others out there who share this belief. So why should I be hindered from playing the way I want to that does not affect your way of playing and letting me explore on my own.

Botting

Nothing will stop this, unfortunatly.

I prefer to play though a series of missions once then just blast my way though the game asap after that, go back and do things I missed if I feel like it. I would much rather be in a group with people who wanted to be in the group than people who are like "oh boy, this stupid mission...again".

I never understood the "I get lost" argument, either.

I believe there is always a Primary quest or Mission active (except when you finish a Mission, and get ported to the next town, you need to talk to the first person you see).

People who've gotten "lost" in Prophecy: when did this happen?

What is it that is so important at the end of the storyline, that make ppl want to get there as fast as possible? Farming? Faction Grinding? or just hanging out beeing "uber" because you made it there.
I don't understand why ppl complaine about not having enough to do, when they want to skip over a big part of the game.

Yes, I want the gates gone so I can "free explore" but thats useally after I have done the missions, picked up the new skills along the road, got all the towns and outposts on the map.

If you are in to Pvp the rush is no longer nessesary(skill pak), so take your time enjoy the game, there is enough rush in real life.

[QUOTE]you are mistaken on all counts

i NEVER gave sales figures on FACTIONS as they are not available.

in no post have i said Factions was not selling well and in some i have noted high ranking in top 10 sales charts.

point cleared up i hope

the post i made if you go back to that reference stated this and i requote what i posted then
this is in no way posting a negative or misread item

i have never stated anything of the sort and still showed support by getting one for each account in spite of my not getting much out of it.

i have stated it is not my cup of tea but have never made a single post wishing it ill

clear?

LOL. After you've done all that, what is left to "free explore"?

I don't want to "rush" either. But I feel like I have to "rush" through the parts of the game I dislike, in order to get to the parts I like, because there's no other choice.

I hate the locked gates. I can't say it any simpler than that. (and before someone goes off and accuses me of hating Factions or Guild Wars you couldn't be farther from the truth. I'm actually enjoying Factions a lot, now I'm finally out of the RED GORE city!)

Locked gates-will not be interested in NF at all.

Freedom to explore will make me very happy.

What I find kinda funny is, the people dedicated enough to the game to have an 8 page disscussion on locked gates... all are pre-ordering their games anyway to make sure they have them on go date and what not so they can rush out to see if the gates are locked.

Even if they are, you've still paid for your game. lol The company gets your money.

*Shrugs* There's a lot of hostility here for and against the gates and then aginst other people because they don't agree with "Your" Point of view.

Out of the dozens of people on this thread how many actually haven't preordered the game? I'd say a severe minority. None of you guys that go on for eight PAGES of rant about gates arn't getting the game if there's a locked gate. Who are you fooling? lol

I can honestly say I havnt preordered it as I havnt had time and tbh the one extra char slot means nothing to me. I only want to make a Dervish and have a PVP slot.

Yeah I bet some people who dislike the gate system have pre-ordered it. But the question is will they be purchasing any further Chapters if there are gates in Nightfall. Yeah I enjoyed Prophecies but if Nightfall fails just like Factions did imo then I will not purchase another game in the Guild Wars series.

What I think is funny is people going out of their way to write paragraphs that have absolutely nothing to do with anything.

Most people on this thread have not said "we won't be buying Nightfall if they have gates." Even I admit, if Nightfall has gates, but it's still an enjoyable game, I'd consider buying another GW product.

BUT.... forums are here to debate what we like / don't like about the game.

As long as people are arguing they "like" gates, (for whatever reason I'll never understand), I'll argue against them.

After all, Anet reads these forums, and it does influence their game design.

Locked gates for teh lose.

I loved the extra freedom I had in Prophecies.

Unlike in factions: " Oh theres a gate sweeeeet, new zone! .....Oh crap i forgot the quest that makes the guard teleport us to the zone inside, here I go....All the way back....on this sad sad day...."

I have pre-ordered NOTHING!
And will not buy NF (pre/game itself) untill I read reviews here on Guru and see what my friends have to say about it.

Factions is worth about 25$ for the skills and new skins.I will not buy another grind fest expansion for 50$

Forgot to mention, if the retarded NPC must survive during 19/20 main missions then this will also turn me away from NF.

I wait for gamers experiences before I decide to buy or not. Locked gates = no buy. And 3 successive no buys = goodbye. (did not buy Factions because of the locked gates).

Well I'm still hoping it'll have gates; I'll buy it either way though.

i hope the gates are open, and the quests dont make you backtrack through most of an area like faction did, i honestly lost the urge to play factions with the locked gate/backtracking nonsense.

The Reason Factions Had Locked gates is to Discourage Runners, Apperently Prophecies Biggest Gameplay flaw is The Droks Run.

They wanted / want to keep the game as linear as possible and be able to access End missions faster and mess up the storyline... Like I did I Finished the Fire Islands before I even got into the desert, Killed the game for me.

So I'm deducing that the same thing will be in application for NightFall.

WEll you have choice, you mde a choice not to follow the storyline but to screw up yourself, its common sense that trying a short-cut for storyline WILL mess it up, DUH.

I just loathed Factions PvE , it sucks, the game has more better pvp that got me to buy it honestly. I still spend more time in Tyria than Cantha, The missions are replayable and still have fun, in Factions I dont want to be forced by "my new chars" to do all the missions again, I already know the story, now its messing up my gameplay...this time I will wait and see how is nightfalls before I buy it.

No matter what ppl say about Factions not a flop by "showing the numbers" , its common sense that Prohpecies was way much better than Factions can ever be, most of the poeple WHO DID bought Factions was due to the reputation and trust Anet had build upon due to PROPHECIES only...The quests are same and pathetic, most people Ive met dont even care about extra quests, since we're forced to do primary ones that are so utter boring, you jusat wana get rid of them, and its true. For me Factions was a flop, but only Credibility Nightfalls has is its by the same team which made Prophecies...

Welll *forgive* me for not knowing everything about the game the frist week.

*Free test Run to Droks* - Ok Whatever that is

Not To Mention i was stuck in Ascalon / Piken for awhile, did every quest and couldn't find the way out of there.

That's the dumbest possible excuse.

If they want to stop runners, do it so that only the player going into the town actually enters it (thus leaving the party if the rest are not within the radius)

In factions, not much due to the compact map size.
In prophesis there was about 60% off the map left to explore after doing all the missions, and after what I understand the map in Nightfall is a lot bigger than in factions.

I think locked gates are a good idea...late in the game. I just crossed over to Cantha and after the 10th time or so of losing badly in that Vizunah Square I decided to skip it and come back to it later. After dying numerous times and completing various quests I got to a gate that was guarded by an official who seems to be hard of hearing. Though I'm at level 20 I'm still pretty new and Vizunah Square is only mission 3 in Cantha. It would be nice to have been eased into Cantha rather than having to face high level enemies and locked gates right off the bat. In Prophesies when I get tired of quests I can give into my wanderlust and go find new places, fight guys, and make some money. In Cantha everything seems wrong. Places with names with no outpost attached to them bother me more than the locked gates. I'm all for having to work to get to the harder missions but there needs to be something more interesting than locked gates. Remember the temple puzzles in FFX? I still have nightmares about Bevelle.

i didnt mind the locked gates. there are good things and bad things about them. if im in ascolon city and im advertising for a run to lions arch there are tons of noobs that come up to me and are asking what lions arch is and want a run, and i have to guide them into starting to do the missions and following the story line. i was lucky when i started and cought on quickly, but i was still having a ton of problems understanding what was happening all throughout prophesies. it makes me feel bad for these guys that get ran to droks on their first time thru the game and they just get confused and all screwed up and they miss out on like 13 missions. on factions there is no confusion on what is coming on and you have to complete the missions in order. they did misuse the gates a bit, but they were trying to fix some of the problems that they saw in prophesies. WHENEVER anet is going to try something different, there is going to be a group that LOVES the idea and a group that HATES the idea. so my idea on nightfall is that there is going to be some gates, but you are still going to beable to lead your own nonlinear gameplay...to an extent.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ValaOfTheFens I think locked gates are a good idea...late in the game.

locked gates are bad at any level.

at present you are locked out at mission 3 and as far as advancing it is

*GAME OVER*

locked gates are good later you say?

think about being 3/4 through the game when you hit another locked gate mission that keeps you from the rest of the game

*GAME OVER*

i never got past mission 3 (yaeh i suck with henchies) so for me it was

*GAME OVER*

but chapter 1 is still fun and Nightfall is coming hopefully without locked gates.

wonder how many people bought Factions first, couldnt do mission 3 and went to something else when they realized it was ......

*GAME OVER*

More like 40-50%

Try creating a character, just do the main mission and maybe a few skill quests. You'll end up with 60% explorer...

So the true meaning of 60% explorer is, "Completed the game"

I played thru Prophecies with 10+ (yes 10+) characters and carried 3 to Factions. In Prophecies I played each thru the storyline (primary quests and missions) everytime some, skipped the optional/side quests. The 3 that I carried over to factions have beat it and 1 Cantha born has beat it. I am now working on characters 5-8. 2 Cantha Born (Sin and Rit) and 2 Tyria Born. And I intend to play thru the story with each. I have no problem with the gates. But hey thats just me. To each his own.


[QUOTE=Loviatar]Anet has released numbers or at least the powers that be who track those things has. As of June 19 2006 ( Check this link http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3151600&did=1 ) With Prophecies Anet broke the 1 million sold mark and with Factions they topped 2 million units sold ( that is combined total not just factions). So apparently the locked gates didnt turn too many off of it.

Here is the problem in Factions:
No locked gates and I'd have done Raisu and Imperial Sanctum within the first few hours. I had that problem with Prophecies, I explored, found, and conquered, and did it horribly out of order.
The locked gates of Factions were good because you couldn't accidently do what I did. I agree that they are bad because they inhibit exploration, which I love.

I think what is needed is a re-think of the locked gate situation. There needs to be a mechanism in place that prevents you doing the missions out of order, while not inhibiting exploration. In all honesty, chances are the solution will either allow some out of order mission doing, or inhibit exploration somewhat. I don't think we can have one without the other, or not easily at any rate. I think in this regard I'd prefer exploration to be inhibited a little.

At the moment what we have are two extremes. Prophecies where (not taking RoF into account) you can do the missions in any order you wish, and Factions that forces your exploration to happen in the order they dictate. Exploration should be free, mission order should not be.

That's an interesting point. I think a compromise could be made on having missions locked, but gates not.

For those who actually like Locked Gates: did you absolutely hate the Luxon and Kurzick areas where you were pretty much free to explore and do quests as you saw fit?

That's what I'm talking about: the whole game should've been like that.

Actually the reason I brought it up was because Raisu Pavillion was the first explorable area that I checked out when I got to Cantha during the headstart. Looking at the portal in the back there, and seeing the closed gate I thought to myself that that would be the last mission in the game. I was almost right If it had not been locked I would have gone on through and done the mission and the one after that too, simply because I found them first. In short I would have finished the game before I started. This isn't quite possible with Prophecies, but as I discovered when I actually took my second character through carefully following only the primary quest, I missed a lot by not being forced to follow the quest order. All of those, "wtf" questions I had from my first run through the game were answered simply by doing it in order.

If they can lock the missions without inhibiting exploration, I'm all for it. But I won't cry too much if SOME freedom of exploration is inhibited because of needing to do mission X. I just think in Factions the restriction was too much.

well it could work both ways, you couldn't run in the last couple areas in the ring of fire

Sorry to burst your dream bubble, but the Droks Run was infact an intended design. Lomar Pass portal is easily removed/blocked at any one time if anet just snaped their fingers to wished it.

Locked gates were placed in to cover a design flaw of a smaller landmass hence artifically lengthening the game.

You decided to get yourself a Forge run to buy max armour and yet screwing your party members on the Fire Islands by not having the two extra 15 point attributes post ascension, and NOW you are complainting that it killed the game for you? Poor bragging IMO.

Best laugh i have for the whole day.